The thesis begins with a review of the feminist social work literature, setting out four key issues: the immersion of women social workers in feminist social workidentity, the creation of egalitarian relationships with women-service users, the goal of empowerment and the neglect of the statutory context. Research questions are generated in the process of discussing these themes, with a view to beginning to redress the paucity of empirical research in this area. The state is then explored as crucial to developing an understanding of the characteristics and the operation of social work. The advent of managerialism in state social work is presented as the locus in which women social workers' experiences arc grounded and practice possibilities are constructed. The thesis moves on to consider the mainslreaming of gender in the reform of social work education undertaken by CCETSW. These developments in social work education are seen as consistent with trends in state social work more generally. The methods used in the case study are introduced and the data this case study produced are discussed in relation to: women social workers' identities, identifications and stances; egalitarian relationships and empowerment; and managerialism. The thesis concludes by summarising its findings and drawing out their implications for future research and practice based on accommodations between women social workers and state social work.

This thesis examines the agency and experience of children, young people, and their parents, participating in multi-agency assessment in a children’s services early intervention process. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) was introduced as a national pilot and widely adopted in England in the past decade. Research has examined the professional practice and systemic factors around the implementation of the CAF, but there is very little investigation of service users’ experiences that considers the agency and perspectives of service users as partners in the process of early help. This qualitative study was accomplished in one local authority site in the midlands of England, where 12 families, including 7 young people and 16 carers, were interviewed. To explore service users’ experiences of multi-agency working, semi-structured interview schedules and free drawn charts and graphs of CAF activity were employed. In order to make sense of service users’ agency and participation in this setting, a methodological approach informed by actor-network theory and Foucauldian governmentality, was adopted. The empirical findings of the research demonstrated the relative exclusion of children and young people from the main elements of the CAF process. This lack of active participation is analysed as a response to the prevailing model of childhood as an incompetent and vulnerable stage of ‘becoming adult’. The participation of adults in the CAF was found to engage a more active human agency, although a diverse range of experiences was found. Parents, who responded to a perceived ’bad parent’ critique from practitioners, assembled a heterogeneous set of actors, including discourse, knowledge from service user sources, and personal skills in working with different organisations, in order to construct an active service users’ identity. The thesis concludes with reflection on service users’ agency and participation and makes some policy recommendations and suggestions for further research.

This study investigates how UK policies and initiatives promoting civic engagement of older people impact their ‘embeddedness.’ ‘Embeddedness,’ which has been my research theme continuously for the past ten years, describes intricate dynamic relationships between an individual and his/her physical and socio-cultural environments. The four research objectives were: 1) to define the concept of civic engagement in relation to ‘embeddedness’; 2) to review and analyse UK policies and initiatives promoting civic engagement of older people; 3) to analyse older people’s perceptions and experiences of civic engagement in civic engagement practices; 4) to examine the effectiveness of UK civic engagement initiatives on older people’s perceptions and experiences of civic engagement and their 'embeddedness’ by discussing differences and overlaps between the concept, policies and initiatives and perceptions and experiences of civic engagement. I also discuss how this study links Sociology and Architecture around the theme of the ‘embeddedness.’ By means of literature reviews, semi-structured informant interviews and participant observation, the subject is tackled both theoretically and empirically. The study analyses the reality of civic engagement focusing on the London Borough of Greenwich as a case study using ‘civic engagement’ as a multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept involving civil, political, social and cultural rights and responsibilities. The study suggests key values for civic engagement and ‘embeddedness’ and discusses them to speculate on the future of civic engagement and the ‘embeddedness’ of older people. The study argues that although in reality classic bureaucratic tendencies may undermine an organisation’s own policies promoting civic engagement, as happened in Greenwich, this is not inevitable if all the parties can understand the dynamic and transactional interaction mechanisms as and when individuals build up social networks within and beyond such organisations.

This thesis reports on a research project guided by the principles of grounded theory. It examines how learning disability nurses care for terminally ill people with profound learning disabilities in two National Health Service residential homes. The aim of the study is to explore the perceived knowledge and skills of this group of nurses. It concerns how they assess, recognise and discover patients’ illnesses and how they provide end of life care needs. A total of 36 learning disability nurses participated in in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis is achieved through analysis of interview transcripts and reflexive journaling (field notes). The analysis of data suggests that the main theme “longitudinal knowing” leads to the production of “knowing the patient well”. “Longitudinal knowing” is the principal process through which the “normal” and the “pathological” continuum is constructed. The observed changes help learning disability nurses to establish a clear demarcation between learning disability-related behaviour and disease-related behaviour. The strategy of “longitudinal knowing” the patient well helps learning disability nurses to understand what their patients are like before the illness, and after the onset of illness. In addition, this thesis reveals that learning disability nurses draw on different types of knowledge. This knowledge includes “intuition”, “commonsense” knowledge and “formal” knowledge. The analysis of data shows that the four types of knowledge derive from “longitudinal knowing”. They help learning disability nurses to understand and assess patient’s changing health conditions. These types of knowledge serve as tools to help learning disability nurses make appropriate nursing decisions about a patient’s health status. In this study, participants sometimes used a mixture of lay and technical language to describe their observed signs and symptoms. The analysis of data shows an area of “uncertainty of knowing”. It concerns an ambiguity about whether the specific signs and symptoms are attributed to the learning disability or to an illness. “Uncertainty of knowing” may be a potential barrier to the delivery of appropriate comfort care. The thesis also reveals an area of “certainty of not knowing”. This refers to moments when participants know for sure where the gaps in knowledge are. The analysis of data shows that participants seek to address this gap by searching for relevant internet resources. They also know that they need educational input in pathophysiology of advance diseases. This helps to reduce the tension created by “uncertainty of knowing” and comfort care. The thesis shows that for all participants, “longitudinal knowing” is fundamental for learning disability nurses in the delivery of appropriate and timely “comfort” end-of-life care.

When specialists in the evaluation of humanitarian action meet they often complain that “evaluations tell us nothing new”. Can this complaint be justified and, if so, can any additional insights into the reasons be discovered? An analysis and comparison is made of the recommendations arising from the evaluations of the humanitarian response to two major forced displacements and two natural disasters. The comparison is used to identify the extent to which recommendations made in the evaluation of the earlier of each pair were repeated in the subsequent evaluations. An analysis of the subjective influences reported as impinging upon nine of the earliest evaluations of humanitarian actions is made. A series of 22 elite interviews with staff of humanitarian organisations and independent consultants directly involved in the evaluation of humanitarian action reveals the continuing influence of these ‘subjective’ factors and indicates of a lack of confidence in the evaluation process as a tool for institutional learning. The roles of agency and structure in the subjective influences impinging on the evaluation of humanitarian action are analysed and recommendations made for the improvement of the evaluation/learning cycle.

Social policy developments during the past three decades have profoundly changed the way in which welfare services are provided, by substantially increasing the role of voluntary organisations in the delivery of ‘contracted out’ public services in a ‘mixed economy’ of welfare. Policies implemented by successive Conservative, New Labour and Coalition governments during this period have promoted a key role for the voluntary sector as providers of public services in a range of areas including social care, health, housing, education and criminal justice (Griffiths, 1988; HM Government, 1990; Cabinet Office, 2006; Department of Health, 2010b; HM Government, 2010a). Such policies to shift responsibility for public service delivery onto the voluntary sector raise significant implications for voluntary organisations and the volunteer charity trustees charged with their leadership and governance. Although offering opportunities for some voluntary organisations, the public services contracting environment also presents a number of challenges for the voluntary sector. These include questions about the extent to which charities can maintain their independence, financial insecurity arising from short-term contracts, and the ability of organisations to remain focused on their charitable objectives and principles. Furthermore, complex and lengthy bidding processes and onerous monitoring and reporting obligations place a disproportionate burden on smaller charities with fewer staff and resources. This thesis analyses such social policy developments that are facilitating an increasing and diversifying role for the voluntary sector in welfare delivery, and assesses their impacts on volunteer charity trustees. It draws upon primary empirical research to elicit the experiences and perceptions of trustees occupying roles on the boards of local charities within this radically shifting policy environment. In total, 46 qualitative interviews were conducted: 25 with trustees of local voluntary sector organisations, 10 with Chief Executives (or equivalent) of local voluntary sector organisations, and 11 with representatives of influential ‘policy community’ organisations at both national and local levels. The thesis identifies the multiple and complex ways in which the changing policy landscape impacts upon voluntary organisations and, in turn, their trustees. It reveals significant ambiguity in how the trustee role is defined and perceived; varying levels of confidence among trustees about their ability to meet their responsibilities; and inconsistency in the training and support available to them in fulfilling their roles. The thesis offers a significant contribution to knowledge about the experiences of trustees responsible for governing and steering charities through the complex challenges arising from contemporary social policies.

This research study examines the policy formation of post-9/11 government led community engagement and partnerships with Muslim communities in London and New York City between 2001 and 2014 situated within the macro political economic context of neoliberalism and related socio-political phenomena that have shaped post-9/11 United Kingdom and United States counterterrorism strategy. This research study has two research questions: 1. Can a clear difference in the strategies used in approaches to countering post-9/11 Al Qaeda inspired terrorism measures targeting Muslim communities be identified in London and New York? 2. How can situating this examination in the context of neoliberalism as illustrated by the breaking down of a number of traditional binaries in the larger social context, specifically the theoretical debates of the state of exception, the convergence of internal and external security and multiculturalism, provide clearer understanding of similarities or differences between London and New York? This study compares the policy formation and evolution of government initiated community engagement and partnerships with Muslim communities strategies used to counter post-9/11 Al Qaeda inspired terrorism in Muslim communities by the London Metropolitan Police Service (London Met) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD). To thoroughly understand these policy approaches, this research study has situated the research within the larger socio-political contexts in which these programmes were formed. Using a mixed methods research methodology comprised of documentary analysis of official United Kingdom and United States documents, discourse analysis of key terrorism and counterterrorism speeches by political elites in the United Kingdom and United States, and semi-structured interviews with elite police and policymaking officials involved in counterterrorism, this study found that neoliberalism, and specifically the significant breakdowns in traditional social binaries have impacted post-9/11 counterterrorism policing in London and New York City. This study concludes that understanding the effects of neoliberalism in this policy area through the blurring of traditional binaries including distinctions between the state of exception and non-state of exception, internal and external security, and United Kingdom and United States approaches to multiculturalism have made historical distinctions between London Met and NYPD approaches to counterterrorism much less significant in the post-9/11 era, although some distinctions remain in their respective approaches to government-led community engagement and partnerships with Muslim communities.

This thesis explored the experiences of post-traumatic growth in adults bereaved by suicide. Past literature into posttraumatic growth, posttraumatic growth in bereavement and bereavement by suicide is examined to rationalise the current research. There is critique of the methodologies used in the past literature. The epistemological stance of the current research and justification of the qualitative approach to the current study is examined. Six participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Transcribed interviews were analysed from an interpretative phenomenological framework. Two superordinate themes, with three ordinate themes in each, were identified: (1) Positive growth: ‘life view’, ‘knowledge of self’, and ‘relation to others’; (2) Social perception: ‘gaze of others’, ‘public guise’, and ‘solace of other survivors’. These are presented and discussed within the journal article. Three additional ordinate themes were identified: (3) Process of time, (4) Bereavement stages and, (5) New normal, which are presented in further detail and discussed in the extended paper. The results yielded that suicide survivors gain extra characteristics and insights due to their experiences, but are reluctant to acknowledge that they do. These results are discussed with reference to previous literature, and the epistemological stance of the research. A critique of the current research is provided before recommendations for research are outlined. The thesis concludes with the researcher’s critical reflection on some of the theoretical, scientific and ethical considerations made during the process of the research.

The use of technology has been a feature of public sector managerialism since its introduction by the Conservative government in the 1990s. Subsequently, New Labour's modernisation agenda embraced and promoted the use of information and communication technology (ICT) through its drive towards 'electronic government' ('e-government'). The target set for all services to be 'e-accessible' by 2005 put pressure on local authorities for their services to be 'open all hours' and encouraged them to utilise call centre technology to achieve this. As a result, 'contact centres' (as they were re-designated) are now in use by local authorities to deliver a diverse range of services including social services. Call centres emerged as one of the most widely adopted organisational forms in the private sector in the last two decades of the twentieth century, and have been utilised in a number of ways, primarily in the communications and service industries. The working conditions in call centres gained a reputation for being harsh and exploitative of employees in the pursuit of efficiency and economy and the labour process in them has attracted a considerable amount of academic interest and research. The principal approach underpinning this research has been Braverman's (1974) labour process perspective. The use of call centre environments and technology for social services was pioneered by Liverpool City Council in 2001 in partnership with British Telecom. The introduction of contact centres in this context epitomised 'new public management'. The use of contact centres to deliver social services is now widespread and the thesis presents an in-depth case study of one such contact centre, 'Northshire Care Direct' (NCD) in the North East of England. It identifies how social work practice has been affected by an organisational form, which, until recently, had not been utilised in this context. In addition to its being used to underpin call centre research, Braverman's (1974) labour process perspective has also been used to analyse the social work labour process and, in this sense, was apposite as a means of shedding light on a setting that conjoined social work and call centre technology. The thesis therefore uses Braverman's labour process perspective as an overarching conceptual framework to shed light on the labour process at NCD and how it impacted on social workers from professional and personal perspectives. The findings challenge the dominant view of call centre environments, which represents them as highly controlled and inherently stressful settings that inevitably damage employees' well-being. The thesis argues that contact centre social work represents a new (and, thus far, neglected) development that further extends the incursion of ICT into the organisation and management of social work practice. The emergence of the twin phenomena of 'e-social work' and 'e-management' is identified. The thesis argues that the contact centre context takes the role of ICT in social work further than before. In acknowledging that it is a snapshot of only one such centre, and that different practices may exist elsewhere, it argues that the findings can only be indicative of the direction of travel. It concludes that the social work profession needs to engage with further developments in order to mitigate potentially negative effects for service users.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese